Summer Fun and Learning for Kids at Scientist Week

Fun and games, all at the same time as learning about science. That’s what the Summer Scientist Week was all about, as children from 3 to 10 years-old took part in a different sort of summer holiday activity.

The School of Psychology at the University of Lincoln, UK, hosted the event, first established in 2011. The University welcomed children and their parents from across Lincolnshire to enjoy and take part in games and exciting research studies.

The event was designed to show that science can be fun and sort to inspire the next generation of scientists. In addition, with the support of the local community, the week contributed to vital ongoing research into further knowledge of child development.

Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Lincoln and co-lead of the event, Lynn Pickerell said: “We were so excited to bring our Summer Scientist event back to the University. The data we have gathered will be invaluable in a range of projects across the school. It was also great to see this excitement shared by our local families and to inspire our future scientists.”

The researchers worked alongside Psychology students on data collection throughout the week, providing a great opportunity for university students to work on real and cutting-edge psychological research in addition to their course-based studies. The findings are used to inform real academic research and are published in peer-reviewed academic journals.

The week allowed university students to get involved with active, current research, developing key skills and knowledge beneficial for both study and career development.

Various activities were run for the children to take part in, with investigative topics such as the development of altruism, language, motor control and risk behaviours.

Children were rewarded with tokens for taking part in research activities. They could then exchange these tokens to play fun games such as hook-a-duck and Nintendo Wii.

NAO The Robot was a particularly popular activity where children were tasked to identify emotions and match them with the robot. Another research activity investigated how eating snacks and listening to music at the same time affected emotions.

The researchers and students received excellent feedback from children and parents alike citing the broad range of activities to take part in, with great rewards and tokens.

ENDS